Aug 24, 2015 3 min read

There’s a growing list of reasons people who might have once visited moviehouses with some frequency are increasingly opting to wait for the DVD or on-demand release of new movies: Ticket prices that have reached $10 or close to it; boorish patrons who text and chat from the opening credits to the final curtain; and an endless parade of commercials and trailers that frustrate and annoy when you just want the movie to start.

Then, there’s the quality of what’s on the screen. Sure, there are still some decent movies being made, but they are becoming ever-rarer gems amid all the thunderous comic-book spectacles, pointless remakes and testosterone-pumped sequels.

Now, folks who have been edging away from the multiplexes have another reason to stay away – bag searches.

Regal Entertainment Group, the country’s largest theater chain, with holdings that include Washington’s Crown Center Stadium 14 and Morgantown, W.Va.’s Stadium 12, started searching the purses, bags and backpacks of all the patrons who purchase tickets at its more than 500 theaters. This is being done in response to the recent shootings at multiplexes at Tennessee and Louisiana, and also in light of the slaughter in Aurora, Colo., three years ago, when a clearly demented gunmen opened fire on an audience watching “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 of them and injuring scores more. Though Regal officials were tight-lipped when the Observer-Reporter and other media outlets made inquiries, they are almost certainly thinking about their own liability should some rageful, twisted individual decide to be a copycat and unleash carnage in one of their many theaters.

Though it has largely gone unmentioned, we also wonder if it serves as a convenient way to crack down on patrons who are bringing in their own beverages and candy, and crimping the profit margins of many theater owners.

Whether or not the bag searches will ultimately prove effective – one commentary we read dismissed the practice as useless “security theater” – it is, nevertheless, a sad commentary on how jittery we’ve become as a result of a society where guns are abundant and, in relative terms, lightly regulated.

It’s stunning to realize as recently as the 1960s, customers could walk up to the departure gate at an airport and purchase a ticket for a flight, without the benefit of passing through a metal detector or enduring any kind of screening. Airlines were reluctant to impose these kinds of measures because they wanted flying to be seen as easy and expedient as hailing a cab or hopping on board a bus. It was only after a spate of hijackings from dissidents, malcontents and lunatics that the United States started to step up security at airports. Now, especially in the years since 9/11, they are like armed fortresses.

The stepped-up security at places like airports, where the security is unfortunately necessary, is starting to seep into the rest of society. Surveillance cameras are a ubiquitous feature in shopping centers and many other public places, and having to run a gauntlet of bag searches and metal detectors is now an accepted part of attending concerts, sporting events or amusement parks.

Unfortunately, movie theaters appear to be next on that list. Where Regal goes, many other theaters will likely follow.

For allowing our society to be awash in guns, we are all paying a price. Bag searches, with all their inconvenience and loss of privacy, are a part of that price. And, of course, there are many others who have paid a much heavier, bloodier price.